By: Stu Cocanougher on June 14, 2018
As I sit down to write about the history of Hong Kong, it would be easy to put a black hat on Great Britain and a white hat on China. England is often cast in the role of the power-hungry colonizer who sent ships across the world in order to take advantage of less powerful…
By: Chip Stapleton on June 14, 2018
As a history major in undergrad, I am acutely aware of the fact that nothing happens in a vacuum. History – at least the good, important, interesting and useful kind is only partially about what happened. It is also and maybe especially about why something happened: what societal and/or systemic factors contributed to the outcome;…
By: Jennifer Williamson on June 14, 2018
The General’s wife told her to sit down. My grandmother had to make a split-second decision. In a traditional Chinese household, where one sits automatically reflects one’s status. General Xue’s wife was sitting at the north end of the room, as befitted a person in her position. Next to her, separated by a side table,…
By: Kyle Chalko on June 14, 2018
Wild Swans by Jung Chang is a revealing look inside what real life was like in China during Mao’s reign. At the time of it’s publishing, details of life in Mao’s China were still coming to light. Chang’s family story was a disturbing tale of life in closed communist world. Its biographical and auto-biographical in…
By: Lynda Gittens on June 14, 2018
The early years of China although challenging and prosperous, politically it had its challenges. Its decision to return to the Communism was a surprise. “The Hong Kong identity that emerged was based on a shared outlook and a common popular culture which blended traditional Chinese culture with that imported from overseas, with…
By: Dave Watermulder on June 14, 2018
Have you ever read any James Michener novels? Michener is a master of the historical fiction genre, and is known for taking the reader on a long journey, across generations and time, to tell the story of a place or a people. In preparing for our South Africa advance last year, I read The Covenant, which…
By: Katy Drage Lines on June 14, 2018
When we moved to Kenya, we spent our first twelve months learning the language and culture of the people we were living among. There were no language schools, and very few books about Turkana, but we read what we could find. We hired a language helper to guide us in learner-directed language acquisition. During that…
By: Jim Sabella on June 14, 2018
Most of my recent in-depth reading within the context of world history has been focused on Europe, particularly on former Eastern Europe and it’s communist history. This is my first more in-depth look further east toward the eastern Asia region and at Hong Kong in particular. What little I do know about Hong Kong and its…
By: Mark Petersen on June 14, 2018
The twentieth century in China was, to put it mildly, tumultuous. War, famine, revolution, and totalitarianism deeply impacted the Chinese in their daily lives for most of the century. Bringing social order was the Communist Party, and yet in bringing order and egalitarianism, many other orders were disrupted and tossed out. Jung Chang, in her…
By: Mike on June 14, 2018
Jung Chang’s Wild Swans is an intriguing love story about mothers; her mother, her grandmother, and her mother-country Communist China. Set in biographical format, Chang’s tri-generational review covers her experiences from binding feet and shoulders, to her membership in the Red Guard, to her earning a PhD from the University of York. The narrative is…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on June 13, 2018
Another fascinating read about real-life experiences in China, this time by author Jung Chang (not Chan as the schedule and reading list says J) Her book, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, was an amazing story that chronicled three generations of women and their wild experiences in China. The most heart-wrenching story was that of…
By: Jennifer Dean-Hill on June 13, 2018
When I was a history teacher, the development of Hong Kong was fascinating to teach from a historical perspective. In my opinion, Hong Kong could be described as an accidental, real-life social and economic experiment comparing capitalism to communism. Although it was originally Chinese territory, it became a British colony, came under Western influence, developed…
By: Trisha Welstad on June 13, 2018
I remember one of my friends in college, an exchange student from China pursuing fine arts, telling me about Mao and his father’s work for the government. At that time, I had no clue who Mao was or anything about the situation in China. Learning my friend was an only child and that parents were…
By: Mary Walker on June 13, 2018
Steve Tsang, professor of Contemporary Chinese Studies & Director of the China Policy Institute, wrote A Modern History of Hong Kong, detailing how Hong Kong developed from “a barren island with hardly a house upon it” to one of the world’s most spectacular cosmopolitan metropoles. (1) Tsang covers the period of British rule in Hong Kong…
By: Kristin Hamilton on June 12, 2018
I know I sound like a jerk when I say I have never been particularly fascinated with Asian countries other than Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea, but it’s sadly true. I know people who have moved here from these countries and most of my international students came from them. I did become more interested in…
By: Dan Kreiss on June 12, 2018
One advantage of being off the grid in Kenya for 3 weeks is that there is time to read thoroughly. None of this talking about books that have not been read nonsense. (My apologies to both Jason Clark & Mr. Bayard.) I am not certain how the rest of you managed to skim Wild Swans…
By: Greg on June 10, 2018
I don’t believe that the end justifies the means. To look at Hong Kong today, we see a thriving society and a highly developed economy. The British empire at the end of the 19th century was at its peak and spreading all across the world. Its influence was strong and the East India Trading company…
By: Christal Jenkins Tanks on June 9, 2018
As a part of my doctoral research, I have been studying the theology of Koinonia- fellowship, participation and community. Fellowship and community sit at the core of the Christian Faith. Fellowship and community are a part of the human condition. Within the creation narrative it is evident that communion with God and others was foundational…
By: Trisha Welstad on June 9, 2018
Steve Tsang’s A Modern History of Hong Kong is a comprehensive while accessible history, spanning just over 150 years. Tsang, born in the latter portion of Hong Kong’s modern era is a scholar and historian who writes to further the national and international perspective on Hong Kong. Taking more than a decade to compile his…
By: Jason Turbeville on June 8, 2018
As I was reading Steve Tsang’s book A Modern History of Hong Kong, one thing kept bothering me. What right did Great Britain have to demand what they did from China? I read statements like “The prestige, dignity and honour of the British Empire were now at stake, but this important development received no recognition from…
